Chapter 4: Bloodlines and lies

Lucian did not sleep.

At 3:17 a.m., he was still in his study, the hospital file open on his desk.

Seven weeks.

He had done the math at least ten times.

It lined up.

It lined up too perfectly.

Which is what bothered him.

He leaned back in his chair, staring at the ceiling.

Elena had never chased money. Never cared about status. She had argued with board members like she owned the company. She had once fired a senior executive without blinking.

And yet—

She had hidden financial transfers.

Met someone at a hotel.

Refused to explain.

His phone buzzed.

A message from the lab.

DNA sample collection scheduled for tomorrow.

He locked the screen.

Something felt wrong.

Not about the pregnancy.

About the timing of everything.

The evidence against her had arrived too cleanly. Too conveniently. Anonymous email. Attached documents. Security footage clipped precisely at moments that looked suspicious but showed nothing concrete.

Lucian’s jaw tightened.

He picked up his phone and dialed.

“Marco,” he said when the call connected. “I need you to pull the original security footage from the Imperial Hotel. Not the edited version. Everything.”

There was a pause.

“That’s already been wiped from their public system,” Marco said carefully.

Lucian went still.

“Wiped?”

“Yes. Internal override.”

Internal.

That meant power.

That meant someone higher than an anonymous informant.

Lucian’s eyes darkened slowly.

“Find out who authorized it.”

He ended the call.

Across the hall, he heard the faint echo of his father’s footsteps.

Vittorio never slept much either.

Meanwhile—

Elena signed herself out of the hospital before sunrise.

She didn’t wait for permission.

She didn’t wait for Lucian.

And she certainly didn’t wait for Vittorio.

By 6:30 a.m., she was sitting in a small café two streets away, hood pulled low, laptop open.

Her old world.

The one she had left behind.

Investigative databases. Offshore accounts. Corporate filings.

She typed quickly.

If Vittorio wanted to play strategist, fine.

But he underestimated one thing.

She used to expose men like him for a living.

Her phone buzzed.

A private encrypted number.

She answered.

“I wondered when you’d call,” said a familiar female voice.

“Sophia,” Elena replied. “I need access to the financial audit logs from Moretti Holdings. Quietly.”

Sophia exhaled. “You’re poking a lion.”

“He already bit.”

A pause.

“Is this about the shell companies?”

Elena’s fingers froze over the keyboard.

“You found them?”

“Three,” Sophia replied. “All tied to a board member. But the authorization signatures…”

Elena’s stomach dropped.

“Say it.”

“They trace back to Vittorio.”

Silence.

The pieces were clicking into place.

The missing funds.

The planted evidence.

The urgency to erase her.

Vittorio wasn’t protecting Lucian from betrayal.

He was protecting himself.

And if Lucian ever discovered his father was siphoning company money through shell corporations—

It wouldn’t just be a scandal.

It would be war.

Elena closed her laptop slowly.

Her child would be born into this battlefield.

She needed leverage.

Her phone buzzed again.

This time, Lucian.

She stared at his name for a long second before answering.

“Where are you?” he demanded.

Not angry.

Controlled.

“I checked the hospital,” he continued. “You left.”

“I’m fine.”

“That wasn’t the question.”

She inhaled slowly.

“Why do you care?”

The silence on the other end wasn’t indifference.

It was frustration.

“Because if that child is mine—”

“It is.”

“Then you don’t get to disappear.”

A flicker of warmth betrayed her, but she suppressed it.

“Funny,” she said quietly. “You signed papers that said otherwise.”

He exhaled sharply.

“Elena… I’m trying to understand.”

“Then start by asking the right questions.”

Another silence.

Then:

“What did you move the money for?”

Her heart pounded.

This was it.

Trust.

Or control.

“I’ll show you,” she said finally. “But not here.”

“Where?”

She glanced through the café window.

Across the street, a black car idled.

Familiar.

Moretti security.

Of course.

“They’re watching me,” she said calmly.

“Who?”

“Your father.”

Lucian didn’t respond immediately.

And that hesitation told her everything.

“Meet me alone,” she continued. “No security. No family. Just you.”

“And if I refuse?”

She closed her eyes briefly.

“Then we stop pretending this is about truth.”

The line went quiet.

Then—

“Location,” he said.

She gave him an address.

An old newsroom building that had been shut down years ago.

Neutral ground.

As she ended the call, she stood.

Across the street, the black car’s engine revved slightly.

They knew she was moving.

Fine.

Let them watch.

She slipped her phone into her pocket and whispered softly to herself:

“If you’re going to test my child’s blood…”

Her eyes hardened.

“I’ll test your empire.”

Cliffhanger:

Lucian is going to meet her alone. Vittorio’s shell companies are exposed. And the DNA test is scheduled.

But what if the results get switched?

Or what if Lucian walks into that meeting already suspecting his father?

Now we’re not just in a love story.

We’re in a power war.